Why the soul-selling myth won’t just go away
Steve Berkowitz, a producer at Sony Legacy, believes it’s largely because that myth helps sell records. “That was always the heart and soul of the marketing plan,” Berkowitz told NPR. “We always knew the music was great. But a guy sells his soul to the devil at midnight down at the crossroads, comes back and plays the hell out of the guitar, and then he dies. I mean, it’s a spectacular story.”
He, however, added: “To just say that he went to the crossroads in the dead of night, first of all means we’re not getting what happened. And second of all, it’s kind of insulting.
“It’s kind of implying that, unlike us who do this serious work to understand music, these old black blues guys just went and sold their soul to the devil.”
